Christmas

Who doesn’t love the country during a glorious British winter? From the Boxing Day meet, to the family shoot, festive food, drink, history and country life. The Field is the best place for a country Christmas. And a subscription to The Field is the perfect present.

Every year The Field delivers two dollops of festive tradition, the December bumper issue, and the January issue. They are packed with everything you need for a thoroughly British celebration, from traditional fieldsports to traditional food, traditional country pastimes and beautiful images from the best photographers. History, tradition, fieldsports, field life…The Field at Christmas has a place in every country house.In fact The Field, established in 1853, just as Charles Dickens’ was inventing Christmas as we know it, is as much a part of British country traditions as trees, carol singers, hot punch, hunting, shooting and merriment.

We wish you a Merry, Field Christmas.

Brussels sprout gratin

Brussels sprout gratin with sherry, nutmeg and cheese This dish can be made up and baked straight away or assembled the night before then cooked when required. If making in advance, it will need 10 to 15 minutes’ extra cooking time and the top may need covering if it starts…

Country Christmas living room

Christmas is the time of year to bring the outside in. Fragrant pine trees are decorated with twinkling fairy lights and placed in the corner of sitting rooms and the halls are decked with boughs of holly. If you want to achieve a cosy, country Christmas interior this year, opt…

cook with venison haunch

If the history books are to be believed, we have Henry VIII to ‘thank’ for first adding turkey to the table, but as far as I’m concerned he would have done better to leave it in the Americas where it belonged. He may well have been the first monarch to…

history of christmas crackers

Online shopping can be such a bonus. However you do have to know what you’re looking for and have the assurance that it’s going to be of a suitable standard. So we’ve done the hard work for you and come up with 10 definitive Christmas lists to help you save…

Spiced apple and cider fruit cake

If you would like to use an English brandy instead I highly recommend the Somerset Cider Brandy Company, which also makes super cider under the Burrow Hill label. My other cider picks include Worleys (Somerset), Butford Organics (Hereford) and Cranborne Chase (Dorset). Much like a classic tea bread, this cake…

The best Christmas crackers Nothing encapsulates the jollity of the festive period quite like Christmas crackers: the silly hats, often sillier jokes and the keepsakes hidden inside. Here, The Field rounds up the most luxurious, stylish and fun. (Read our piece on the history of Christmas crackers.) Been invited to…

pigeon and cranberry terrine with cointreau and hazelnuts

Recipe for pigeon and cranberry terrine with cointreau and hazelnuts Ingredients 80g dried cranberries 50ml Cointreau 4 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp butter 300g shallots, peeled and finely sliced 8 pigeon breasts, skin off and cut into 1cm-thick strips 80g hazelnuts, roughly chopped 60g fresh white breadcrumbs 15g parsley, finely…